Monday

Homeless people living at a county-organized camp along Highway 99 now have access to medical care, among other services, through Monday, Jan. 7, the day the camp is expected to be closed.

White Bird Clinic, a nonprofit agency that provides crisis and medical services to low-income community members, has set up a temporary clinic across the street from Camp 99. The clinic is staffed by a medical doctor, nurse practitioner, four registered nurses, four medical assistants and five crisis responders who provide a variety of medical attention.

White Bird also provides counseling, care management for homeless people and dental care, among other services.

St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County is providing space at the Lindholm Community Service Center at 464 Highway 99, located directly across the street from Camp 99. St. Vincent's help allowed White Bird to get services up and running in a matter of days, Hecht said. The clinic opened to patients Wednesday.

Chris Hecht, an outreach and fundraising representative for White Bird, said Monday that the clinic offers medical services 16 hours per week from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays. Hecht said the teams of medical providers see between 10 and 12 patients per four-hour shift.

About 85 people are camping in tents and other shelters at the Highway 99 site, with about 20 more camping in cars on the same property.

Lane County rapidly organized Camp 99 in late October to address health and safety concerns arising from the dozens of homeless people who were sleeping next to the county courthouse in downtown Eugene.

Medical services provided by the team range from relatively simple procedures such as wound care and writing prescriptions to diagnosing and treating respiratory infections and skin problems that crop up as a result of living outside.

"This is a good opportunity for us to not only attend to medical issues, but also to inspire or motivate patients to keep coming back and/or getting referred to other resources that can help them," Hecht said. "We're able to assess some of the chronic and deadly medical conditions that people are living with and encourage them to continue getting treatment."

Drug and alcohol counselors also are on site for eight hours per week, Hecht said.

The county is footing the bill for the clinic. Hecht said the about two-week contract costs the county about $10,000.

"The county truly should be commended for that," Hecht said. "They made this come together in a matter of hours."

Wendy Feldhoff is one of the two medical doctors providing service at the camp. She said she's seen a range of medical issues, from infections to pneumonia, elevated blood pressures, ear infections and asthma attacks.

Feldhoff worked at the camp on Saturday and has been splitting her weekdays between the main White Bird clinic and the Highway 99 clinic.

"We're treating a lot of the acute issues in hopes that we can get people connected with already-established services that can help them get treated for more longstanding issues," Feldhoff. "This is part of the mission of White Bird. We serve as a safety net of our community, and we want people to get long-term help."

Feldhoff said that White Bird had been looking for a way to reach and treat people at the camp for a while and feels grateful that she's finally able to do so, but also admits that the need is larger than the current level of service.

"Our intention is to care for underserved populations," she said. "But we're realizing that we're reaching a whole different crowd with this effort. We have a population of people that we see regularly, and this group is completely different from that."

The clinic will remain open until at least Monday, when campers on the site will be given the option to transfer to other shelters.

Those interested in learning more about the camp's efforts or donate to the project can email camp99@whitebirdclinic.org or call 541-342-8255.

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